Hours Of An Injury
by Raawr.x
Summary: Written for the Whitechaple Big Bang on Livejournal
1. Hour 1

**A/N: This was written for the Whitechapel Big Bang over on Livejournal, where the fic itself had to be 10k+ with a very minimum of 8k+**

**Any-who, that's the explanation done, enjoy!**

/

Hour 1

Chandler

DI Joseph Chandler never woke up late for work. Ever. In fact, he had woken up at the same time every morning unless disturbed since he started high school aged eleven. So why had today been different from the norm?

He threw himself out of bed landing heavily on the floor and ran into the bathroom turning the shower on to heat up while he brushed his teeth, he jumped in and had what was possibly the quickest shower of his whole life, he towelled off in a rush and decided on the first suit he pulled out of his wardrobe but the OCD in him would not allow for a random selection of a tie. It had to be the perfect one for that suit; he was going to have to just start putting the ties with the suits to make his life easier.

Instead of sitting down at the table and having a decent breakfast like he had planned he managed half a cup of tea and a biscuit in between getting dressed, before his phone rang. One hand pulling on a shoe attempting to tie his laces once on, the other pressing a unusually hot iPhone to his ear, he sighed.

"Hello?"

"Good morning Joe!" Judy chirped

"Oh, hi Judy, what's up?" He smiled turning his attention completely to the conversation leaving his shoe laces untied and he sat down on the bed, he needed to make that.

"Ray and I were wondering if you'd like to come over for dinner tonight, you haven't been round in a while and Ella keeps asking for her god-father,"

Joe could sense her smiling to herself down the phone, knowing she had him right where she wanted him and he smiled to himself, "Of course, what time?"

"Straight after work. I'm not giving you chance to opt out mister!" She told him sternly, but with a small laugh

He chuckled "Okay, okay, I promise I won't"

"She knows who I'm talking too," Judy laughed again on the other end of the line "Watching me like a hawk she is," There was a small squeal on her end followed by " 'iam!" "Sorry to cut the conversation short Joe but I'm going to have to go."

"It's fine Judy, I understand… See you tonight," Kids…

"See you later Joe!"

He threw the phone down on his bed beside him and proceeded to hunt for his left shoe after successfully tying the laces on the right one he was currently wearing. Before he knew it he was on his hands and knees, head pressed against the floor looking under his bed for the elusive shoe.

/

Miles

"He said yes!" Judy called to Ray from the kitchen as she picked up Ella and her car keys "Boys!"

"Good!" He shouted back as he fumbled with his tie as-per usual "It'll be good to get him out of the office!" He pulled his coat down from the rack.

"Here," She claimed the tie from his hands, completely undid it and re-did it herself; it looked ten times as smart than before, "There, much better!" She nodded proudly and patted his chest with her free hand, then turned her attention to the fact that none of the boys were with her "Boys! It's time to go!" Judy yelled, Liam appeared at her side from the kitchen and Jack ran down the stairs.

"Jamie!"

"One minute mum!" the muffled shout came from the boy upstairs and afterwards a couple of soft bangs as things were thrown around a room.

"No Jamie, now!" Ray shouted up to his son, backing Judy up "You've had all morning and last night to make sure you had everything ready!" He yelled, "Your mum and brothers are ready to go now! Whatever you don't have you're going to have to leave or I swear I will come up there and drag you down!" He warned taking a warning step up the stairs, making sure his foot banged loud enough to be heard upstairs

"Okay, okay…" The young boy mumbled as he stomped down the stairs

"Get your jumper on." Judy told him sternly, taking his bag in the arm that wasn't holding Ella while he pulled the aforementioned dark green jumper over his head.

"Right." He sighed ruffling Liam's hair, "I'll see you later," He kissed Judy goodbye and was out the door quick as a flash.

/

Kent

"Chelsea!" Kent shouted to one of his two female flatmates "I need you to move your car! I'm going to be late for work! Get! Up!" He hand a hand over his face and let out a frustrated sigh "If you don't come down and move your car I will come up there and interrupt whatever it is you and Adam are up to! I swear I'll do it!"

"Okay!" Chelsea squealed back finally jogging down the stairs in her skimpy pyjamas with car keys in hand

"Don't you need to put some shoes on?" he asked looking concerned down at her bare feet

"I'm out of my nice and cosy bed to move my car for you Em. Shut up."

"Fine, fine!" He held up his hands in surrender, if he kept on arguing she wouldn't move the car and he would have to make alternative arrangements for getting to work in the foreseeable future as Chelsea worked from home so her car rarely moved.

He reluctantly followed her outside and watched wearing an emotionless mask to hide his concern that she was driving without shoes as she backed the little red Corsa out of the driveway, parking up on the street.

She climbed out and tiptoed quickly into the house/flats shooting him a death glare as she passed him, she reached out and punched his arm before grinning cheekily and trotting back inside, "There you go, Constable! You may now go to work! Can I go back to bed now?"

"Yeah, have fun…"

"Oh, I will…"

He pulled a face and shook his head.

/


	2. Hour 2

Hour 2

Miles nearly bumped into Kent who, like himself, looked like he was rushed and mentally preparing himself for a bollocking off the DI for being late. Miles knew that was unlikely to happen but after being kicked of the team during in the Kray case under suspicion of being a mole, in Miles' eyes at least, the boy was allowed to be a little jumpy and worried.

"He's not here yet."

"What?!" Kent jumped around a little startled "Oh, sorry Skip… Who?"

"Boss," Miles pointed to the empty parking space marked 'DI J. Chandler' "He's not here yet, he'll never know we're late and even if he does find out he can't say much about it himself can he?"

"No," Kent looked relieved and had visibly calmed.

/

"Anything?" Miles asked as the two walked into the incident room just minutes later.

"Nothing." Mansell informed him with a shrug before turning back to the sports section of his newspaper.

"Well, the boss'll be happy about that won't he…" Miles grumbled rolling his eyes at the thought, he knew that Joe was never happy if there was nothing to do, the man couldn't appreciate it when they had time to relax and people weren't killing each other and serial killers weren't practically running around the place squealing 'I'M THE BEST!' at every turn, appearing to compete with each other for the most gruesome, who had the best plan or motive and when none of this was happening the DI could be a bit of an arse.

He'd either sit in his office all day practically staring at the phone willing it to ring or he would be in and out all day constantly reminding them to look busy, put their rubbish in bins and get their feet off the desks. They needed a case or Miles feared that he would be tempted, again, to punch the DI in the nose, the man had an unfortunate inability to sense danger when it came knocking too it seemed, put him in front of a gunman and he will stand there trying to talk the nut job into putting the gun down so they could walk away from the situation alive but one touch of a severed foot and the man is turned into a complete babbling mess needing terribly to clean his hand even if all he did was wipe it with a tissue.

/

Chandler strolled into the office like everything was completely normal until he saw his team with

their feet up looking completely unconcerned, he gave them all a raised eyebrow look; Mansell took his feet quietly off the desk trying not to attract attention, Miles binned the two crisp packets on his desk, Riley quickly closed the facebook window on her computer and Kent was hunched over at his desk.

"Anything called in?"

"Not, yet..." Riley told him but nodded at Kent who, he now realised, was on the phone at the desk in front of hers "I presume that's something though,"

"Yes, okay… Would you like to talk to him instead? He's here now, okay I'll hand you over… " With that Kent offered the phone to Joe who promptly took it like a hungry dog devouring its food.

Riley gave Kent a questioning look and he scooted his chair over to her desk.

"Doctor Lewellyn, on her way to a crime scene thinks the boss will find it interesting," He breathed a laugh "And she told me to tell him she promises that Lizzie won't be there" He added with a smile

Riley stifled a laugh, "Yeah, we wouldn't want that would we? That would be very awkward for our poor DI, that's the girl he bailed on isn't it? The one he left at her flat before they even got to go on a date?"

"Yeah actually, I think it is,"

"What are we talking about here?" Miles asked making his way over pulling a chair behind him and sitting next to Riley.

"The boss's botched love life, well the lack of his love life to be precise, non-existent since Morgan anyway…" Her voice lowered to a whisper at the last part of her statement afraid that the DI would hear, nothing had been said about the incident since it happened, sure he had gone off the rails a little bit for the first couple of weeks afterwards even going completely off the grid and out of touch for the first four days; but ever since, it had never been mentioned almost as though he had completely cut off that part of his life, like it had been erased from his memory, wiped without a trace, permanently deleted.

"Okay, we'll see you there." He placed the phone back neatly in its receiver "We have a crime scene to get to. Two males in their late thirties; found in a vacated building on the Whitechapel road, the building was scheduled for a re modelling, and re-storing before it was to be put up for sale, contractors hired to assess the damage and make note of the work that needed doing to the place were made aware of the bodies this morning when some kids had been trespassing came running out of the place screaming and shouting. Door was locked from the inside, the windows are all boarded up and they have no idea how the men got inside to begin with."

"So we've got another weird one then boss?" Mansell piped up from the back of the room where he was pulling on his coat and handing Riley hers

"When do we ever have one that isn't weird?" Miles rolled his eyes

"The Krays?" Kent offered quietly adding "That was just plain scary…"

Riley frowned sadly, she hadn't been there at the time of the Kray case but had heard enough about it from her talks with Miles and Mansell to know it was a bit of a taboo subject for both Kent and Joe. Mansell didn't like to talk about it much though because of McCormack's suicide, so she had gained most of her information through Miles and from what she had been told it sounded like it had been one hell of a scary time for them all.


	3. Hour 3

Hour 3

Joe could swear he nearly tripped over about three different people stumbling out of the secure area of the building where the bodies were. The SOCCO's were intently processing the scene so he thought it best not to complain about falling over them while they were doing their jobs, or contaminate the scene; he would be the one that was actually getting in the way. Riley was interviewing witnesses and Mansell along with Kent was asking around in the shops and other businesses in the area to see if anyone had seen or heard anything the night before, while Miles was still talking to Dr Lewellyn. Joe didn't think it was about the case anymore but they're old friends so he'll let them talk, they don't get to see each other enough so it didn't bother him all that much, it gave him time to have a bit of a look around.

He walked all around the ground floor of the building intently inspecting each and every one of the rooms, opening all of the doors, just to satisfy his curiosity. He jumped straight back into a wall when a rat scurried across the floor letting out an unfortunately loud pathetic yelp which he hoped no one had heard when he banged his head before rubbing his hand over it and swearing in a very ungentlemanly way.

He was actually surprised to come across what looked like a sturdy set of stairs with a solid handrail.

He shook it with both hands checking it before taking a firm hold and pulling himself up the stairs, there were plenty of doors on the upper level as well, carrying on like he had downstairs opening all of the doors and peering into the rooms. When he reached his fifth door however it wouldn't open, the whole handle wouldn't twist, it felt wrong to him, like somebody was trying to hide something behind that door; but this place was old and the handle was probably rusted in place; he brushed it off and continued on his walk about.

The door didn't make a sound as it opened, not a squeak, the floor boards weren't as sturdy as the stairs and cracked underfoot.

Joe turned just in time to see the flash of blue as the person rushed down the stairs, instantly giving chase.

"Hey!"

The person in front of him was shorter so Joe was able to catch up to them rather quickly and tackle them to the ground; the pair rolled down the stairs. His head hurt, sodid his back but he was not prepared for or even expecting the loud bang that echoed throughout the building or the flash of pain that followed so soon afterwards. When they finally came to a stop reaching the bottom of the staircase the person in blue, who he could now clearly see to be male, jumped up and ran in the opposite direction which Joe had originally come from; he tried to follow but couldn't get up and until he looked down at himself he was unable to figure out why.

/

The kids who found the body were completely useless at best; all they were worried about was whether or not they were going to get arrested for trespassing into the building, at least one of them had been arrested before, Riley and Miles had both recognised him straight away.

"Oh my god! My dad is going to kill me if I get into trouble with the police!" a blonde girl with a face full of make-up and long, pink acrylic nails whined; covering her face with one of her hands while the other clasped an iPhone enclosed in a pink case with a large, gem covered bow sticking out from the top of it.

"Look, if you just answer my- -" Riley tried to reason but was cut off by one of the boys this time.

"My parents said they'd kick me out if I got arrested again." He fumbled and toyed with the blue plastic lighter in his hand, so Riley held out hers.

"Hand it over." She instructed, the boy did as told "Right. Now if you would be so kind as to listen to me and answer my questions I'm sure we can let the trespassing slide, along with the underage drinking you were all going to do," She nodded to the beer on the floor by the feet of another boy and the bottles of vodka sticking out of the brunette girls bag "Understand?"

Begrudgingly they all nodded and the brunette girl pushed the bottles further into her bag.

Finally some progress.

After finishing what had turned out to be a completely futile task Riley stretched and looked around, officers everywhere, SOCCO's everywhere, too many people. She breathed a laugh when she caught sight of the DI stumbling out of the main crime scene and set out for a bit of a wonder, she smiled to herself.

He's getting out of the way then! Probably for the best. She shrugged her shoulders and decided to join Miles and Dr. Lewellyn where they were having a chat.

"Anything interesting Meg?" Miles greeted her with a warm smile.

"No, all those kids are bothered about is themselves. They are all clearly under eighteen but were looking for a quiet place to sneak a drink" She rolled her eyes

"Ah, typical teenagers!" Lewellyn chuckled to herself "Won't tell you anything until they are absolutely certain they are completely in the clear and aren't going to get in trouble!"

"Oh, I was under the impression that only being bothered about themselves was children in general. Not just teenagers…"

The conversation ceased suddenly when they heard a muffled thump followed by a small cry of pain.

"Where's the boss?" Miles asked looking around

"I think he's gone for a bit of a nose around, I saw him walking away from the crime scene not long ago, and he seemed fine. I think he just wanted to get out of the way; Your SOCCO's are anywhere and everywhere Caroline…"

"I know, unfortunately they sometimes get under my feet as well but they're only doing their job."

She shrugged "I don't blame him for going on a bit of a nose around actually, this place does seem quite big, and that's only from the outside." She paused and thought for a second "Can your officers be trusted for a few minutes not to contaminate the place?"

"Yes, I should think so… Where are you going with this?" Riley cocked an eyebrow

"Well, if we go for a quick walk around, just a few minutes… There's nothing more I can do with the bodies, here anyway so they can be transported while we have a look around…"

"Okay, a quick look can't hurt,"

They ducked under the tape and turned immediately to the right. The corridor they walked along was quite cold compared to the area of the main scene but was lit just as brightly. Reaching the end of the corridor was when they saw it. The hand.

"Oh no, not another body… Two is enough." Riley grumbled to herself, her eyes widened involuntarily as the hand moved, more than just a twitch, it disappeared completely out of view.

The three shared a look before darting forward. They were unprepared for the sight that greeted them.


	4. Hour 4

Hour 4

"Joe!" Miles looked horrified to see the man that had slowly but surely become his friend lying in a pool of blood barely able to keep his eyes open, but for some reason couldn't make himself move.

"Oh my god!" Riley was frozen to the spot, she willed her legs to carry her forward to help but she just couldn't move.

Lewellyn sprinted forward, insanely angry with herself when she stepped in the blood but if she was going to stop him from dying there and then it couldn't be helped. She knelt of the floor beside him and began to carefully apply pressure to the wound ignoring the horrible, warm feeling of the blood beginning to seep onto her white plastic suit at the knee; she stayed in her position for a few moments before she began barking orders at the two detectives who had yet to move more than a few steps closer to their DI who was bleeding profusely from what appeared to be a gunshot wound.

"Meg, go get more help! Have someone call an ambulance… Quickly!" She yelled when the female DC hesitated before scurrying back quickly in the direction they had come "Ray, when you find the use of your legs again I need you to come and help me!"

This snapped the sergeant out of his state of shock and he hurried over to her side; His eyes locked on her willing her to tell him what to do.

"Here," She guided with her eyes "Put your hands on top of mine and when I move mine keep yours there putting pressure on the wound to try and subdue the bleeding." She watched him carefully place his hands on hers "Ready?" She prompted; he nodded "Now!" She quickly removed her hands and he replaced them with his, she pressed down on them "Like that, that amount of pressure, no more as the bullet may move and no less because the bleeding will continue as it has been." Her old friend nodded, unable to take his eyes away from his hands as she removed hers and peeled off her latex gloves.

It had been quite a while since she had needed to examine a living victim, she was worried but still knew her stuff and because everyone trusted her pressure was on.

"Joe?" In cases like this it was always better to use the victim's first name; even subconsciously they would know you were talking to them even if they didn't respond. Her worries were unfounded however when there was a slight movement of the head and suddenly two clouded, sleepy blue eyes were staring at her, though with the amount of blood on the ground she didn't quite know how. "How do you feel?" He gave her a look that simply read 'Are you stupid?' "I know, you must be in a lot of pain, and you must also be very tired but don't go to sleep. Do you hear me?" She moved to his side and took hold of his wrist, his pulse was slowing. "Joe, look at me." She ordered when she noticed his eyes were drifting shut. "Keep your eyes on me." She let her hand slip from his wrist and into his giving a firm squeeze, as though to reinforce her earlier words.

"Tired…" He mumbled looking down at himself "Mess…" He shook his head a little, disapproving of the state of his shirt "Need to change…" He groaned heavily in pain as he tried to push himself up from the floor; the look of confusion in his eyes deepened when he couldn't get up.

"No, no, no…" Lewellyn warned pushing him gently back down as he attempted to sit up for the second time, she just received a failing attempt of a scowl from the man in return.

"Need, to change… My shirt…" He breathed, still frowning.

Both Lewellyn and Miles breathed a laugh, the man was in serious danger of dying and the thing at the complete forefront of his mind was the fact that his shirt was a mess?

/

When Mansell and Kent were on their way back to the crime scene, with nothing out of the ordinary to report; it was Whitechapel, of course no one had seen or heard anything unusual, they hadn't been expecting to be over taken by the ambulance with lights flashing and sirens blaring going in the opposite direction; they shared a look and ran the last length to get back to the scene to be met with another scene they were seriously unprepared for. Riley looked severely distressed, Dr. Lewellyn was a little less of the same -she didn't seem as bad, more like she knew how to handle the situation- and Miles looked… Well he looked strange, a way that neither of the two younger men was familiar with, he looked… Broken; there was no other way of describing it, he looked completely emotionally broken.

"What's going on?" Kent asked looking between the three of them not managing to catch eye contact with any of them.

"Where's the boss?" Was Mansell's first choice, he regretted it when all three pairs of eyes instantly snapped on him.

It was an uncomfortable few moments before anyone spoke, but when they did it was Riley and all she could manage was a small whisper, but it still seemed to echo in the room.

"Boss got shot…"


	5. Hour 5

Hour 5

It's not until tragedy strikes that you may just realise how little you actually know about a person.

They all knew that there was someone out there that they should call; they had, in fact, spent a great deal of time discussing it but no one knew who that person they should be calling was. They all shared a common belief that they knew enough about each other to at least know who to get straight on the phone to should a situation such as the present one arise, for Miles it was Judy. Riley, her sister. Kent? More than likely one of his flatmates. They didn't know what kind of family the boss had, was he currently in a relationship? They thought not but how in hell would anyone actually know? Did he have any brothers or sisters? He's never mentioned any but he's never really spoken about his family to them, besides the fact that his father is dead nothing had ever been mentioned about his family situation. In the end he would have an 'In case of emergency contact' number on his medical record, so they wouldn't have to contact anyone, leave it to the hospital to do, they would be practiced with things like that.

They were however still dwelling on it.

"Does he have any brothers and sisters?"

"I don't know, he's never mentioned any…"

"I think he's an only child."

"Why?"

"I don't know really, just generally people with brothers and sisters are more outgoing, you know so they're actually heard…" Kent shrugged

"No, in my experience that's the younger children." Miles told him "The older ones are usually confident, protective and far more responsible, they don't have to shout to be heard; fits the boss to a T, if you ask me."

"I trust your judgement Ray but to me he just seems too reserved to be an older brother, if he does have siblings I'd say he's a middle child, used to being ignored for older and younger siblings."

** "I'm sorry ma'am but you can't go through there!"

"Look. If members of your hospital staff are incapable of maintaining an accurate record of family members you have contacted within the past hour then that is your problem and I suggest that you acquire some far more competent staff that will be capable of doing so!" **

The door to their side was pushed open quite violently and a very angry, yet extremely panicked, looking young blonde woman strode in, a doctor they had spoken to earlier following somewhat nervously behind her.

"I mean no disrespect to you or any of your staff, Doctor but none of you are being helpful in any way! I lost my father when I was very young to a jumped up little twat of a teenage boy with a gun and I do NOT intend to lose my brother in much the same way!"

The tension in the room was building and was eventually going to subside to breaking point if someone didn't put a stop to this soon.

The nervous doctor had apparently seen his way for escape though in the form of them.

"Miss Chandler, these are your brother's work colleagues, I'm sure they are in more of a position than myself at the moment to tell you what has happened. Now, if you'll excuse me…" with that he ducked out of the room.

She sat down near Riley and sighed heavily, eyes locked on the floor, remaining there are she spoke.

"I'm not going to shout or call any of you incompetent if that's what you're worried about… I know enough to know that it's probably not your fault and my shouting will in no way help the situation."

Riley smiled sadly and edged closer to the young woman, just close enough to place a hand on one of her shoulders in a gentle and effectively disguised way of capturing her attention.

"What happened?" She whispered, "The doctor won't tell me anything…" she still didn't look up.

"We don't really know all we do know is that he got shot. By the time we found him he was too out of it to tell us what happened." Riley bit her lip, "Now, I think proper introductions are in order don't you?" The younger woman lifted her gaze from the floor and nodded "I'm DC Meg Riley, and this is DS Ray Miles," She gestured to Miles as he sat down on the other side of the woman

"Robin Chandler, I'm Joe's sister…" She twirled a lock of her long blonde hair around her fingers, she looked nervous and scared.


	6. Hour 6

Hour 6

After a while of chatting they had managed to calm Robin down a substantial amount but the doctor didn't help when he popped his head around the door to tell them that Joe was still in surgery, but he had lost a lot of blood beforehand at the scene and had been bleeding internally.

"Why would you come in here and tell us that?!" Miles practically exploded, jumping up from his seat and shouting at the doctor mere inches between them. "Why can't people like you just leave well enough alone?! Get out of my sight and learn how to talk to the family and friends of patients properly!"

"I had no idea you guys were this close…" Robin had settled into their company quite well and fit in well too.

"Damn right. Your brother is my daughter's godfather; he saved my life after he had only known me a few months." Miles told her, his mind casting uncomfortably back to the time when their two roles in this situation had been reversed.

"He told me about that… He was very worried about you, you know,"

"I don't mean to pry but what was he like when he was younger? He can't have always been this obsessed with order and history." Riley prompted

"He's always been interested in history, particularly crime but never on the scale he is now, Uncle Harry used to tell us stories all the time when we were little" She smiled at the memory "But that was when he was a proper detective, not some suit behind a desk like he is now," She sneered

"Uncle Harry? Would that be a certain Commander Anderson by any chance?" Mansell asked suddenly intrigued. There was a little office bet going on about why exactly the Commander cared so much about the DI, most people were thinking family member like Uncle, mainly on the father's, side not the mother's. Others had the idea that he had been a mentor for the DI when he had first started out and had grown somewhat attached and protective over him, Riley however had the unique perspective that the Commander had been a good friend of Joe's father, and had kind of stepped in as a father figure once his father had died.

"Yes, sorry, Joe probably doesn't call him that anymore! Uncle Harry is our godfather, he was a very good friend of our dad's too they had been friends since high school. I should probably call him and let him know what's happened!" She began to fumble around in her bag for her phone.

"It's fine Robin, he's probably already been told."

"Yeah, you're right nothing really gets past him much when it comes to me and Joe,"

"Here," Kent handed Robin one of the cups of tea he had just returned with on a tray

"Thank you," She smiled appreciatively

"I'm not meaning to sound personal but," Mansell received a glare from Riley but she didn't quite manage to catch his gaze before he finished what he had to say "What's your brothers deal?"

Robin looked confused "What on earth do you mean?"

"Well, does he prefer the company of women or men?"

A hush fell over the room; it was more of an awkward silence than anything else. Riley found herself reaching over to slap Mansell sharply on the side of his head while Kent gave him a 'You really are as much of a twat as you look' look and Miles stayed silent.

"Are you asking me if my brother is gay or straight?" She asked cocking an eyebrow, when she received a nod she snorted slightly with laughter, "Look, if you don't know already then it is none of my business to tell you, why don't you ask him yourself? Or are you too afraid of offending someone if you get it wrong by making an uninformed assumption or generalisation."

"The last one."

"That's exactly why I won't tell you. Man up and ask yourself."

"I like you. The two of you… You're very… You're very different if you don't mind me saying…" Kent added with a smile as a way to try and divert the subject.

"Thanks, Joe is more reserved probably because he lost our dad, and I didn't really know the man. I was barely a year old when he died so I don't have any memories with him but according to the people I've asked Joe was more outgoing then and afterwards, he changed to being quiet and reserved unless he gets really annoyed, and all of a sudden everything had its place. All of his stuff had an order that no one other than himself really understood… I remember once when I must have been about five or six going into his bedroom and he was there at fourteen-fifteen instead of out with his friends playing football or whatever he was re-organizing his book shelf, not just making it easier to find stuff but actually getting annoyed when the books didn't fit onto the shelves properly… And I've always been quite messy and outgoing, the only place in my world that is even remotely tidy is my studio and that's only because I'll fall over if it isn't!" She laughed."The only thing that the two of us have EVER agreed on is that we wanted to move reasonably far away from home as soon as we possibly could!"

Her phone began to ring. "Oh, excuse me," She moved through the door and shut it quietly behind her as she answered the phone.

"You twat!" Riley leant over and smacked Mansell on the head again.

"Ow!"

"How the hell could you ask her something like that?!" Miles frowned and lowered his voice to a whisper "Her brother may be dying as we speak and the only thing you think to ask her about is his damn sexuality?"

"I wasn't thinking! I just figured she might tell us and we could finally stop debating over it all with who's right!" Mansell tried to defend himself but was doing so rather poorly "Some of the Constables have gone so far as to come up with some worryingly out of the box theories! A couple have got him down as one of the people who is sexually attracted to objects because he's always messing with the stuff on his desk! Another few have him down as asexual because he just doesn't seem to show any kind of attraction to anything or anyone whatsoever and there's some lonely bugger somewhere that suggested as a joke the other day that he could be one of the men that you see where they have a sexual relationship with their car!"

That shut them all up for a few moments while they processed what was being said and the fact that it was going on in the incident room behind their backs, Miles decided that once they were back Mansell was going to point out the few and they were going to have serious words about his personal 'Who gives a shit?' policy.

"Who the hell cares? I personally couldn't care less who or even what the boss is attracted to. He is a human being and should be treated as such, not judged by how he lives or what his sexual preferences are! Attitudes of people who care, and think that everyone should be 'conventionally'" He sneered disgustedly at the word and made air quotes with his fingers "Straight are the main reason that people who aren't as they are expected by society to be are scared to come out as being different; whether they are gay, bisexual or anything else. They are scared to be different because people will treat them different and they shouldn't do."

Riley and Kent nodded sharply in agreement.

"Fine!" Mansell threw his hands up in surrender "I won't ask anymore stupid questions!"

"So you're not going to ask any more questions at all then?" Robin smirked as she re-entered the room "Uncle Harry… God! Sorry!" She put her head in her hands "Commander Anderson – I guess – He's on his way and he sounds pretty pissed!"

"Well that's going to be one damn fun conversation for you Ray,"

Miles groaned. "Why me?"

"You're the sergeant!" Robin half smiled, sympathetically "I don't envy you that pleasure…"

/


	7. Hour 7

Hour 7

"Why can't you just tell me straight Miles?!"

Commander Anderson had been shouting at the Detective Sergeant for over half an hour now while Miles shakily remained calm and resisted his urge to punch the self-righteous man. He was not the DI's baby sitter, Joe was his boss and friend, an adult, not some child he had been put in charge of and he certainly couldn't keep an eye on the grown man twenty-four seven.

"I can only tell you what I know and all I know is he walked away from the crime scene for some unknown, mystery reason and he got shot." Miles sighed and felt himself shudder slightly, involuntarily. "By the time we found him he had lost a lot of blood but even though he was still conscious he was too far out of it to tell us what happened, he was more bothered about the fact that his shirt was a mess."

"Well, is he going to be alright?"

Despite the man's front and bravado Miles could see from the Commander's eyes that he was scared by the possibility of losing someone he clearly cared about.

"I'm sorry; I know I shouldn't shout at you. Joe has a very focussed mind of his own and whatever compelled him to have a walk around the crime scene was his fault, not yours." He ran a hand over his face. He was in uniform so clearly he had been dragged away from what he had been supposed to be doing today to come and meet them. "His father died of much the same injuries, gunshot wound to the torso, only no one found him until it was far too late to do anything about it. There wasn't any time for one of us to rush him to a hospital and the ambulance took far too long… He was dead on arrival."

"Excuse me sir, I don't mean to pry but 'Us'?" Miles was intrigued; he didn't mean to ask personal questions.

"Yes, I was there along with Joe and Robin's father, Henry, and another detective. I regret that we didn't get to him soon enough but he was faster than the two of us and caught up to the man we were chasing quicker. He was shot twice in the chest. We were quietly confident the other detective and myself, we'd stopped running because we thought to ourselves it was all fine Henry would have him by now and there was no rush, then we heard the shots." Commander Anderson hung his head in silent shame, "No other sound has ever made me panic so much, to this day I don't know how I managed to run like I did, I do remember falling over once or twice maybe even three times. I blame myself; I was the one who suggested that we stopped running."

"But what about the other guy? He didn't have to agree with you did he."

The pathetic reassurance fell on deaf ears, both knew it wasn't the Commanders fault that day, but nothing can ever stop you from blaming yourself for something even if you couldn't have prevented it. Miles was feeling that now, so was Riley they shouldn't have let him go off on his own but what could they have done to stop him really? He wouldn't have listened to them, not in a million years.

"We never got the man who shot him."

"Uncle Harry!"

Robin had obviously heard the cease in shouting and yelling and come to investigate.

"Robin!" He wrapped his arms around her hugging her close to him

"Ah, Miss Chandler," The doctor from earlier had appeared "I would like to talk to you privately if I may?"

Robin pulled a face "No way. You may certainly not speak to me privately, I don't wish to speak to you alone." She maintained a tight hold on the commander's sleeve and he placed a hand supportively on her clenched fist.

"Doctor, she may be her brother's next of kin but they are both my god-children." He held up a silencing hand "I don't care if they are adults now, taking her away from people she trusts to explain a harrowing situation such as this will only distress her further."

"Fine."

The doctor huffed and Miles hid a smirk, it was funny when the Commander was being an arse to someone else for a change.

"But at least in a less public setting." He gestured to the room where Mansell, Riley and Kent were all still sat waiting for the storm of anger to pass.

Once they were inside the doctor shut the door and stood with his back against it giving himself a quick route of escape should the need for one to arise.

"Mr Chandler i.."

Mansell cut him off. "Detective Inspector."

"Fine, fine. Detective Inspector Chandler is out of surgery, we managed to remove most of the bullet.."

Robin interrupted this time "Most? What the hell do you mean most?"

"The bullet nicked one of his ribs and fragmented, that was why the bleeding was so severe. When I say most I mean practically all but we can't be one hundred per cent sure that we got all of it…"

"So all you can think about is how you're going to cover yourselves! Nice to know you're caring more about yourselves than the patient, a man's life is at risk and you're just making sure that your career isn't damaged in the process!" Riley snarled

"I understand that you are all concerned for the life of your friend, or brother, or god son but please will you all stop interrupting me!" The doctor yelled, they all fell silent "Thank you. In cases like this we can never guarantee that we have retrieved the entirety of the bullet, some parts may be too small for us to see or any machine to detect, so yes, in these situations we like to keep ourselves covered unless we can guarantee completely that the entire bullet is gone. He is out of surgery and resting, you're welcome to go see him but he is heavily sedated at the moment and so is unable to talk."

Robin jumped up from her seat "I want to see him!" She glared pointedly at the doctor blocking her path as he remained in his position in front of the door "Take me to see him." The doctor opened his mouth to say something "At least move." She growled impatiently.

He moved away from the door and guided her down the corridor, stopping her gently before she entered the ICU.

"Are you sure that you want to see him?"

"Yes!" She answered impatiently bobbing up and down on the spot.

The rest followed closely behind, not wanting to intrude but wanting to see for themselves that he was truly okay.

No one liked what they saw.

He was hooked up to all different kinds of machines. Heart monitor, drip, something else that was designed to apparently keep track of his breathing and step in to regulate it if necessary, Robin was not happy, the scared panicked look of a rabbit caught in the headlights was back and she clung to Commander Anderson like her life depended on it, pressing her face into his chest.

/


	8. Hour 8

Hour 8

They had only been at the hospital for a few hours but it felt like an eternity, Robin and Riley were anything but calm after seeing Joe hooked up to all kinds of machines possible. In a frightening turn of events the ventilator type machine had needed to step in twice in the past hour alone, everyone was now scared and fearing the worst. Miles had eventually called Judy to let her know what had happened, which had turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, she was now panicking too. It had been thought best for some of them to get out of the hospital even if it was only for a little while, just to maintain some form of sanity, both Miles and Commander Anderson had refused to leave and so had Robin at first, but when the topic of actually getting something to eat had been brought up they all realised that they hadn't actually eaten anything substantial since this morning.

Kent and Mansell had been tasked with dragging Robin and Riley to get something to eat, preferably out of the hospital.

Miles and Commander Anderson sat in an uncomfortable silence. They both felt like they had been delivered a kick in the teeth.

Not long after the other four left the same poor doctor that they had all been shouting at and getting angry with throughout the day had appeared in the door way.

"I know this probably isn't something you want to hear right now but I've been informed by my superiors to update you on Detective Inspector Chandlers condition..." He trailed off when both men just simply looked at him and didn't protest his presence in the room "Since the incident with his ability to breathe for himself subsiding into non-existent, his chances of survival have considerably lowered from those I told you before." This earned him a glare from Miles and Commander Anderson gestured for him to continue. "I'm afraid he only has a twenty per cent chance of surviving the night, but if he does then he has a eighty per cent chance of a complete and full recovery though there will be follow up appointments to keep an eye out for any stray fragments of bullet that might be kicking around."

"Get out." Commander Anderson growled

"Sir, I'm sorry to have to tell you these facts but my supe - -…" The doctor babbled

"The man told you to get out!" Miles half yelled, hands clenched into fists by his sides.

The doctor scurried out of the door like a mouse running from a cat.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Miles finally broke the silence, having a house full of kids at home he certainly didn't like it, silence was usually a bad omen. "Why do you care so much?"

"About Joe?" Commander Anderson met Miles's gaze steadily, Miles nodded "He and Robin are my responsibility; I'm their godfather…"

"But they aren't children anymore, sir," He added the last part just to seem as polite as possible, it was easier to coax information out of people that way, "They're old enough not to need godparents, they're not your responsibility anymore… You aren't their father."

"No, but I'm the closest thing they've got. The closest thing Robin will ever have."

"But what about their mother?" He received a blank stare "She is still around isn't she?" He knew that she was Joe had mentioned her, a couple of times, but better to play dumb and pretend he didn't know much it was easier that way.

Commander Anderson let out a bark of laughter "Ha! You must be joking! That woman is more than useless. Ever since Henry died Penelope Chandler has been a complete and utter train wreck. A few years after his death she suddenly decided that she couldn't cope with the children, said they looked far too much like Henry!" He scoffed "Instead of seeking some kind of help for herself though, she took it upon herself to decide she didn't want anything to do with Joe and Robin anymore! She turned them over to my wife and me, refused to have anything to do with them, that was, until they began to make names for themselves. She visited occasionally but my wife and I brought Joe and Robin up along with our own three."

"That actually explains a lot… But you'd think that if they looked so much like the husband she loved she'd want them with her."

Another cry of laughter, "Penny never loved Henry! Don't be absurd! She loved his money!" He smiled slightly "I do have to agree with her on one thing though; they are both so much like him, in personality as well as looks, so determined and persistent. Joe is completely the spitting image of him! It's strange really, both of them blonde hair, blue eyes and tall."

"And the OCD?"

"Ah, you know about that?"

"We're better friends than one might think. He saved my life remember."

"Yes, quite. I personally believe that stems from slight abandonment issues as a child, first the father dies then the mother, for want of a better way of putting it, gives up. He was never very quiet when he was younger, while his father was still alive anyway; he became more reserved after his death but appeared to retreat completely into his shell when Penny gave up… No order in his life so he feels the need to create some." He rolled his eyes "The so called specialists however think it's due to lack of interaction with children his own age."

"How is it that they're so different then? Joe and Robin…"

"Robin was far too young when Henry died to even remotely remember him and she was too young to notice any change when Penny decided to hand over custody to me and my wife," Commander Andersons head dipped back down again "Sorry, I'm saying far too much,"

"It's fine."

/

The others had managed to find a 'Subway' down the road from the hospital, they'd all ordered their sandwiches and were now sat at a table. Robin stared at the sandwich in front of her suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore, how could any of them eat. Riley had barely touched hers either, neither had Kent, Mansell however was tucking into his food like nothing was different from any other day.

"You're a pig." Robin glowered at him across the table.

"What?" Mansell looked up, "Look, you're not going to help your brother or yourself by not eating anything, just eat something. I'm willing to bet you haven't eaten all day."

"No. I haven't but I'm really not hungry." She told him flatly "You're welcome to it if you want it…" She pushed her sandwich away from her.

Mansell studied the turkey, lettuce, tomato and cucumber sandwich "Too healthy."

Robin laughed a little.

"See there you go, a little smile isn't going to hurt."

/


	9. Hour 9

Hour 9

They had all had something to eat now, Robin had remembered to bring Miles and Commander Anderson something back with them but still the food remained majorly untouched. It was decided that neither Miles nor Commander Anderson would tell the others what the doctor had said about Joe's possibilities of surviving the night. All of them refused to leave, they were currently camped out in a room opposite Joe's that was empty, completely not even a bed so they were sat on the floor with blankets they had been given by the nicer of the hospital staff.

Robin had exhausted herself with not eating and constantly worrying so she was asleep with her head on a pillow on Commander Anderson's lap, while he stroked her hair.

"What was he like as a kid?" Riley asked, curiosity finally taking over.

"Very outgoing actually," Commander Anderson smiled fondly "Very athletic, played every sport going…"

"Boxed too didn't he?"

"Yes, but that was as a teenager, not a kid, he was good too. Just managed to get one too many broken ribs…" Commander Anderson inwardly cringed "I was actually the only one who watched him, Robin, My wife and daughters were all too afraid"

"So he basically grew up with four little sisters?" Miles asked remembering from before that Commander Anderson mentioned he had three children.

Commander Anderson nodded "Only boy in the house," He breathed a laugh "Practically pampered by them all and he protected them to no end"

It was a funny image for them all, the DI boxing, it was an insanely strange image; they couldn't imagine him throwing a punch let alone fighting in a ring. For Miles who had seen it for himself though he could see that Joe had once been a good fighter but was now out of practice.

Riley carefully lowered herself to the floor placing the pillow under her head, "Maybe we should all take a leaf from Robin's book and get some sleep."

"Yeah maybe," Kent followed suit and curled up under his blanket, his eyes drifting shut instantly. It wasn't long before everyone did the same although Commander Anderson had to stay sitting up so he didn't disturb Robin. They all laid there in silence for a few moments.

"Can anyone sleep?" Mansell whispered

"No…" Riley sighed

Miles pushed himself up from the floor and stretched out his arms and legs. "I'll see about finding us some tea, maybe that'll help." He stood up "Kent?" He nudged the young DC with his foot, Kent snorted and rolled over. He was out for the count.

"Mansell?"

"Yeah, I'll come and give you a hand Skip." Mansell scrambled up from the floor, nearly slipping on the blanket his foot was caught up chuckled to herself as they left the room.

"How do you put up with them?" Commander Anderson asked her, shifting slightly when Robin moved.

"They are amazingly funny, really and they're great fun! Joe likes them too you know so maybe you just need to spend some time with people who are different than those in your normal social group," She smiled "We all have different personalities but that's what makes it all the better, Joe even laughs at Mansell's mucky jokes sometimes"

"You all really care about him don't you?"

"We all care about each other, there's a set of keys in Joe's office which has a copy of a key to everyone's home so we can get in if we need to, and we all have each other's phone numbers along with that of a relative…" Riley smiled "Joe's idea ."

"Of course," He nodded

"If you lift her shoulders with one hand and her head on the pillow with the other and move her slowly she won't notice," He gave her an incredulous look "Trust me I have two little kids that fall asleep on me all the time,"

He did as she had instructed and Robin barely moved, just snuffled a little and rubbed her nose."See."

"Thanks,"

"No problem, now you get some sleep. You look shattered." She tossed him a pillow and blanket

"No, no I'm fine…"

"Don't be stupid! Get some rest!" She raised her eye brows at him and gave him the 'mother knows best' look when he still didn't move "Don't make me knock you out to get you to rest!" She threatened with a smirk.

"Okay, okay…" he threw his hands up in defeat "Just wake me if anything changes."

"I will I promise, now sleep."

/


	10. Hour 10

Hour 10

Robin had been awake for a good half hour, everyone else was asleep. Uncle Harry was snoring softly and Mansell was snoring like a pig, and the ICU was relatively quiet, some doctors and nurses bustling around but nothing much happening thankfully, no one should be subjected to their family or friend being in here, not like they were tonight. She moved around the room carefully, she'd even taken off her shoes so that she didn't make enough noise and was just wandering around. She wanted to go out of the room and check on Joe but daren't, she was too afraid of what she might see, her big brother was her protector and she didn't like seeing him like this; all vulnerable and weak, wrapped in bandages, a machine doing his breathing for him; not the fighter she knew, not her Joe.

Now it was her turn to be brave. She needed to go see him. She pushed open the door and stepped outside, padding softly across the corridor she came to a sharp halt outside the room, leant against the window and just watched him. His chest rising and falling softly under the sheet, the bloodied bandages just barely visible, they certainly needed changing, he wouldn't be able to do with that when he woke up. If he woke up…

Don't be stupid Robin! Of course he's going to wake up! He'll be fine… Won't he?

"Come on Jo-Jo… You're my big brother, fighter. You can fight this. You can get better. You will get better Joe," she leant her head on the window as the tears streamed down her face, the silent sobs wracked her whole body. "I love you Jo-Jo, you can do this, do it for me, do it for us all! From what Ray has told me you've got yourself a good set of friends there, a god daughter too!" She stopped crying, wiped her eyes and shook her head "You never told me about that! Gosh, we need to have a serious catch up, have dinner every so often like we used to when you first became a detective. I guess now though as a big Detective Inspector you have a lot to do now, not as much free time on your hands as before…" She locked her eyes on his face, "Love you big brother!" She kissed the palm of her hand and placed it on the window.

She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when she first saw it. The finger twitch, she rubbed her eyes and watched his hand intently. There it was again! She moved her eyes back to his face, his eyelids fluttered and he slowly blinked them open. He looked around the room wide eyed and panicked at all of the machines around him, he tried to push himself up in the bed but grimaced; his stomach probably hurt with all of the stitches that would be there, never mind the wound itself.

A wide grin broke out on her face when he saw her and lifted his hand in a small sort of wave, she waved back excitedly and ran into the room she had come from and turned the lights on waking everybody up in the process.

"Up, up! Get up! He's awake!" She shoved Commander Anderson when he still didn't wake up "Get up! Up, up, up!"

She grabbed his hands and pulled him out of the door where everyone else was already excitedly waiting. Mansell had run to get a doctor, Riley was waving and everyone was smiling.

/


	11. Three Weeks

/

Three weeks studied himself in the mirror the stitches had been removed and his stomach was clearing up nicely, but those scars would be there forever. The line scars he was bothered about the most, why did doctors have to make such a mess? The smaller circular one didn't bother him as much he just saw it mainly as a badge of honour, he'd been shot an lived, survived the odds. It still hurt though, it stung when he moved and when he stretched out it hurt like hell. Riley, Robin and Judy had been popping in to check on him, bringing him food mainly making sure he ate properly; Judy had brought Ella around once or twice to see him, for that he was truly thankful; he absolutely hated being on sick leave with nothing to do.

Today was his first day back and he was looking forward to it a had taken him a while to get out of bed though; sitting up had been the worst. No point wasting time around it, time to get shirt and jacket on, get in the car and go to work.

He winced, nothing before taking some of his painkillers though. He pulled the bottle out of the medicine cabinet behind his bathroom mirror, threw two of the tablets in his mouth and downed them with a glass of water.

/

"Just be quiet!" Riley hissed

"Well when's he going to get here?"

"Are you sure it's actually going to be today that he's back?"

"Yes. It definitely is, I checked with Commander Anderson, and I can see him from where I am now, so if you'd all be so kind as to shut up." Miles growled

The incident room fell silent; Joe wasn't paying much attention when he pushed the door open so he nearly fell backwards when they all shouted.

"Surprise!"

"What in the world?" He looked at them all like they were total complete and utter idiots.

"Commander Anderson is making sure that we don't get any cases handed to us today so we can have a bit of a welcome back party for you!" Mansell grinned and gestured over to the table full of food and drink, no alcohol surprisingly.

"I baked cake!" Riley beamed widely offering him the plate of cake.

He took a piece "Uh, thanks…"

Miles laughed at him. "Don't get used to this because next time you pull a stunt like that you won't survive because I'll kill you myself."

Joe smiled "I wouldn't expect anything less."

/

**A/N: Short last chapter because I got a little stuck, Constructive criticism and reviews much appreciated ^.^ Until next time you read one of mine! Raawr.x (GeeLou on live journal)**


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